SPRING FEVER

Spring is a time for blossoming and new beginnings, and the Texas football team is taking full advantage of the season. Their spring workouts — full of promise, learning and anticipation — push the Longhorns to find ways to reap what they have sown. Each year, at the end of Texas’ 15 days of workouts, the coaches and players have something
new to tout. This could simply equate to a player taking the next step forward or a new
twist that will bring success under the stadium lights come fall.

This season’s change — a move to an uptempo offense that Texas successfully employed to a limited degree in its …

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Alamo Bowl win against Oregon State in December — was on full display at the Orange vs. White scrimmage. The annual spring game took place March 30 before an announced crowd of 46,000 at under-renovation Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Texas won 30-13 over the Longhorns. The new offense — enacted by co-offensive
coordinators Major Applewhite and Darrell Wyatt — has the Longhorns moving faster and
limits the number of substitutions made by an opposing defense. “We love the new offense and the fans will love it,” head coach Mack Brown said. “We’ll start scoring points like we used to.” The key to the offense’s success is its triggerman — junior quarterback David Ash. Ash, the team’s newly appointed full-time starter, had a mixed review by hitting on some big plays while completing 17 of 24 passes for 162 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Linebacker Jordan Hicks first picked off Ash when he tried to force the ball into a gaggle of players on a shovel pass.

Later, Ash overthrew receiver Bryant Jackson, who tipped the pass right into the waiting arms of safety Adrian Colbert. Ash played mostly against the secondteamers, which perhaps isn’t a true indication of his prowess. However, his showing was highlighted by more good than bad. “I did some things that were a little uncharacteristic that I wish I hadn’t done,” Ash said. “As an offense, we were consistent. Whenever you play well, it’s all 11 guys doing their jobs and executing consistently. That’s what we did.” Ash found a wide-open Mike Davis for a 38-yard touchdown and hit Kendall Sanders on a 24-yard throw-and-catch that the receiver turned into another score. Both plays took place in the first half, where Texas built a 24-0 lead.

“Besides about five minutes of real time where I thought he left his body, David played great,” Applewhite said. “He made good decisions with the ball and made checks along the line of scrimmage to get us into better plays. He’s had a great spring.”
Davis led the Texas team with a team-high 66 receiving yards on four receptions. He said
he’s also impressed by Ash’s work this spring. “David has great character and leadership,” Davis explained. “He did great things out there today and made sure we played freely and executed the way we should.”

Jackson posted a game-high six catches for 27 receiving yards, while tight end John Harris had four catches for 92 yards. Jackson did double duty, playing for both teams. Applewhite lauded the work of Harris and Jackson, calling them the “glue of the team.” “The guys that have been around the program three or four years know how things are done,” Applewhite said. “They’re the Chris Ogbonnaya- and the Brian Carter-type players that make championship teams. They don’t always get the credit and their faces aren’t on the walls around here, but they help keep the team running.”

The first-team offense racked up 137 yards rushing on 27 carries, with the bulk of the work on the ground done by Johnathan Gray (six carries for 45 yards and a touchdown) and Malcolm Brown (33 yards on just two totes). The Longhorns’ other starting running back, Joe Bergeron, played on both teams and amassed 42 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. “In the up-tempo, you have to be conditioned to run the plays and communicate,” Gray said. “When you’re playing at this fast pace, you have to know who’s on and off the field in a short manner.”

The biggest offensive question mark after the spring is who’ll become Texas’ backup quarterback. For now, senior Case McCoy has the job. He completed 7 of 11 passes for 80 yards, including a 35-yard strike to Harris despite in-your-shirt coverage by cornerback Carrington Byndom. But McCoy also threw an interception when he overthrew Harris; Sheroid Evans nabbed it and went 60 yards to set up Bergeron’s scoring run. Texas allowed true freshman quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, just months out of high school as a midterm enrollee, and redshirt freshman Jalen Overstreet to play without the black “don’t hit us” jerseys and both responded with daring scrambles.

“We wanted them to get a feel for the game,” Applewhite commented. “It was a good idea to see if they’d bounce back from a shot and be able to protect the ball.” Swoopes, a hulk at 6’4” and a jersey-busting 245 pounds, had runs of 21 and seven yards against the first-team defense — the second of which kept alive a drive that set up a 19-yard field goal by Nick Jordan. He also completed both of his passes for 11 total yards.

Overstreet had dashes of 24 and nine yards and was 1-for-1 passing for 19 yards against other backups near the end of the scrimmage. “All of [the quarterbacks] are going to
compete in the fall,” Applewhite said. “Case right now has a tremendous amount of experience, and it’s hard to sit a guy who has that much experience. But my goal is that Tyrone, Connor [Brewer] and Jalen are strong enough to take a swing at it.”

Brown added that Texas will try to get even faster on offense by not flipping its outside receivers. “They’re going to stay on the same sides, and that will speed the game up,” he said. “We didn’t want to confuse them [in the spring]. If you leave those guys set and just flip the inside receivers, you aren’t running all across the field. That will help us create a faster tempo.”

A dozen players didn’t suit up for the scrimmage, 11 of them because of injuries. The injured list included tackle Josh Cochran (leg), linebackers Deoundrei Davis (knee), Demarco Cobbs (knee) and Tevin Jackson (shoulder), guards Sedrick Flowers (concussion) and Trey Hopkins (leg), defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat (pectoral muscle), offensive lineman/defensive lineman Jake Raulerson (appendicitis), defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway (concussion), punter Will Russ (back) and receiver Jaxon Shipley
(hamstring).

Receiver Cayleb Jones, who made a huge impact early in spring camp, was held out because of a suspension. Expect five of the players — Cochran, Cobbs, Hopkins, Russ and Shipley — to be starters when the Longhorns kick off the 2013 season Aug. 31 against New Mexico State. One of the game’s surprises was the twoway role of Duke Thomas, a once-projected defensive back. In the scrimmage, he played at both cornerback and wide receiver, making a catch for 16 yards despite practicing at the
receiver position only twice during camp. He also returned the opening kickoff for 30 yards.

“We’ll talk about the ability to utilize [Thomas’] speed,” Brown said. “He did a good
job at receiver, and he’s fighting Sheroid Evans for the other corner position. We feel good
about Duke. We’ll probably play him both ways in the fall.” Defensively, the Longhorns made some plays. DT Chris Whaley, the former running back, and Caleb Bluiett, the converted tight end, had sacks. Bluiett also made a nice tackle on the hard-to-bring-down Daje Johnson on a reverse. Whaley said playing against an up-tempo offense has helped the defense.

“At first it was challenging, but it’s helped us get in better shape,” he said. “We came out tonight and showed some good flashes. Work needs to be done, and we definitely need to get better at rushing the passer and stopping the run.” Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said his unit met his expectations during the scrimmage and throughout the spring. “We wanted to play fast, tough and physical, and we accomplished that goal,” Diaz said. “That’s been our big thing this spring. What we have to do now is find a way that all 11 guys do their jobs and do it with a nasty disposition.” Diaz also added that the Longhorns are better at linebacker and at safety when compared to last season.

“Certainly our experience at linebacker has been telling and that goes for the safety position as well,” he explained. “Those two are the standouts in terms of the biggest
jumps from where we were a year ago.” Brown listed offensive line depth as a key
priority for the Horns’ improvement. “We developed more depth in the offensive line than we’ve had around here in a number of years,” he said. “We’ll have a great crop
of freshmen offensive linemen coming in.”

And so the long layoff comes for the Longhorns and their fans, with the start of fall drills set for the end of July. The Texas coaches will work with the team through the end of the spring semester; then it’s up to the team’s leaders to conduct voluntary practices through the dog days of summer. That’s a time when most teams really come together. “Each coach will sit down with every player individually and tell him exactly where he stands,” Brown said.

“The coaches will tell them the things they did well and where we need them to improve.” “We’ll then tell each player they’re a starter, a guy that will play some snaps, or a guy that lost their spot to a freshman or a junior college player. Those players will have to earn it back in two-a-days,” he added. “We’ll have some very hard conversations with the guys over the next month.”